‘He must be stopped’: California sues Trump over tariffs
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Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
- Gov. Newsom announces lawsuit against President Trump’s tariffs as the state stands to lose billions.
- 911 logs show more than a dozen calls from burning west Altadena before evacuations ordered.
- The 26 best pilates studios in L.A. to stretch, strength-train and feel the burn.
- And here’s today’s e-newspaper.
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Gov. Newsom has entered President Trump’s tariff war
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday, seeking “injunctive relief to block the tariffs imposed by President Trump.”
Speaking from a Central Valley almond farm, Newsom joined Bonta to announce the lawsuit, arguing that Trump’s actions are unconstitutional because Congress has not approved them.
The president cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose his tariffs, which the lawsuit challenges as an unlawful overreach.
As of Wednesday evening, the Trump administration has maintained a base 10% tariff on nearly all global imports. Previously announced tariffs on Mexico and Canada — two major U.S. trading partners — stand at 25% for most imports, with some exemptions. Products from China face a whopping 145% tariff.
Bonta said the goal of the lawsuit is to rein in Trump for levying “rogue and erratic tariffs… [that are] causing uniquely immense harm to California’s economy.”
“The risk to California, to our businesses, our workers, our families, cannot be overstated,” he said Wednesday. “It’s simple: Trump does not have the authority to impose these tariffs. He must be stopped.”
Newsom noted that he has no authority to negotiate with national trading partners, but said he has been making efforts to maintain “sub-national trade” by talking with foreign leaders to assure them that “California has their back” and wants their business. The state launched a tourism campaign last week in an effort to bring Canadians back to California.
“The uncertainty is pronounced and it is profound in the state of California,” Newsom said Wednesday. He noted the Golden State’s substantial trading relationships with Mexico, Canada and China, saying the three nations together are responsible for 44% of state imports.
“No state is poised to lose more than the state of California,” he added.
Newsom’s presence is noteworthy, Times reporter Taryn Luna wrote, as it’s the first time the governor “has taken a lead role in any of the now 15 lawsuits that California has filed against the current Trump administration.”
“Until now state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has acted as the face of California’s legal battles against the federal government while Newsom has generally maintained a distance from the back-and-forth court tussles,” Taryn explained.
Newsom has taken a more reserved approach in Trump’s second term, attempting to find a balance between collaboration and confrontation.
Shortly after Trump’s election victory, Newsom said his goal was “not to wake up every single day and get a crowbar and try to put it in the spokes of the wheel of the Trump administration.”
“In that spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist, that’s how we want to proceed,” the governor said at the time. He’s also extended that open hand on his recent podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” hosting major MAGA personalities including Ben Shapiro, Stephen K. Bannon and Michael Savage.
Newsom referenced his earlier comments in Wednesday’s announcement, calling it “a sincere sentiment.”
“We didn’t want to go down this path,” he said. “We were hoping we didn’t need to go down this path, but we prepared to go down this path.”
Today’s top stories
911 logs show more than a dozen calls from burning west Altadena before evacuations were ordered
- The logs depict a deadly disconnect between dispatchers receiving reports of flaming homes and officials deciding which neighborhoods to evacuate.
- All but one of the 18 Eaton fire deaths occurred in west Altadena, which got its first alert eight hours after the other side of town.
U.S. panel calls for suspending commercial salmon fishing in California for third year
- The suspension of fishing for the last two years has brought major losses of income for those in the fishing industry, but some salmon boat skippers agree that extending the closure is needed.
- “We need to do everything we can to save the species,” said Kevin Butler, a commercial fisherman in Santa Cruz.
Defying courts in a deportation case, Trump risks a tipping point, experts say
- One judge said the Trump administration has done “nothing” to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that it must “facilitate” the return of a wrongly deported Maryland resident from El Salvador.
- Another judge said the administration has shown “willful disregard” for his order on Venezuelan deportees.
- Legal experts said the cases raise serious questions about the state of American democracy.
What else is going on
- Adult pelicans are falling victim to toxic algae bloom. Now their babies are starving too.
- This little-known earthquake fault has been quiet. But it can unleash devastation across SoCal.
- ‘A person who deserved it’: A homeless man wins $1 million in California scratcher, a store manager says.
- A California helicopter business sold used parts as new, risking customers’ lives, an indictment says.
- Will Trump’s tariffs crash TV’s spring ad-selling party?
- The special election for Oakland mayor is too close to call, but Loren Taylor takes a slim early lead.
- A homeless man wins a $2.4-million wrongful termination lawsuit but he’s nowhere to be found.
- Michelle Trachtenberg’s cause of death has been revealed after her family objected to a coroner autopsy.
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Commentary and opinions
- Trump threatened Vietnam with a huge tariff. Columnist Gustavo Arellano asks, how’s that going over in Little Saigon?
- Trump fired a tariff torpedo at China — and hit Boeing right between the eyes, writes columnist Michael Hiltzik.
- In her latest column, Jackie Calmes writes about the case that proves the U.S., under Trump, no longer stands for rule of law.
- The fight over Trump’s legal bullying campaign makes for odd alliances, argues columnist Mark Z. Barabak.
- A simple route to seafood sustainability? Chef and guest columnist Noah Galuten says eat way more of these four things.
This morning’s must reads
The chef who wooed L.A. with a million oysters perfects laid-back seafood. In tiny Found Oyster, with a closet-size kitchen, Chef Ari Kolender created the consummate L.A. clam shack: Chill cross-coastal vibes meet platters of pitch-perfect seafood, all rigorously sourced, Times deputy food editor Betty Hallock writes. He estimates that in the five years since Found debuted, the restaurant has sold nearly 1 million oysters, several thousand a week. (“We’ve gotta throw a party,” he notes.)
Other must reads
- ‘We’ve always been here’: An oral history of L.A.’s Black indoor roller-skating scene.
- A ‘calamity waiting to unfold’: Altadena residents with standing homes fear long-term health effects.
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].
For your downtime
Going out
- 🤸🏽♀️ The 26 best pilates studios in L.A. to stretch, strength-train and feel the burn.
- 🍕🍤 $45 caviar tots? Here’s everything you need to eat at Coachella Weekend 2.
Staying in
- 📗 She’s L.A.’s Martha Stewart of weed. Her new cookbook makes edibles more fun and less scary.
- 🦪 Here’s a recipe for Found Oyster’s scallop tostadas with yuzu-apple vinaigrette.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.
A question for you: What is the best concert or music festival you experienced in California?
Brooke Habecker writes: “I saw San Francisco’s own Mr. Big at the Warfield on March 28, 1992. They were touring their number one record, ‘Lean Into It.’ I was there with my boyfriend, who gave me the tickets for my 18th birthday two weeks before. Mr. Big filmed the show and released a video of it and subsequently an audio CD. My boyfriend and I are visible on the cover of both. The tour was sponsored by Makita because they used electric drills to play their guitars on some songs.”
Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally ... from our archives
On April 17, 2011, HBO’s epic fantasy series “Game of Thrones” premiered. In a Times review, culture columnist Mary McNamara called it a “great and thundering series of political and psychological intrigue bristling with vivid characters, cross-hatched with tantalizing plotlines and seasoned with a splash of fantasy.”
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Andrew Campa, Sunday reporter
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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